I see your point of view and agree whole heartedly. The problem is,we're not money hungry,blood sucking lawyers !
According to Wikipedia, Life Value in the US The following estimates have been applied to the value of life. The estimates are either for one year of additional life or for the statistical value of a single life. $50,000 per year of quality life (international standard most private and government-run health insurance plans worldwide use to determine whether to cover a new medical procedure)# $129,000 per year of quality life (based on analysis of kidney dialysis procedures by Stefanos Zenios and colleagues at Stanford Graduate School of Business) $6.9 million (Environmental Protection Agency) $7.9 million (Food and Drug Administration) $6 million (Transportation Department) $7 million (median value for prime aged workers)# The income elasticity of the value of statistical life has been estimated at 0.5 to 0.6. Developing markets have smaller statistical value of life. The statistical value of life also decreases with age.
I think I'll believe a witness who was there over a NTSB representative. The truck was charred. There is no way the NTSB can conclude whether or not the truck was on fire before the crash
When the truck hit the gravel there would have been so much dust in the air you couldn't see the truck.
Ahem! These are the guys that can tell you whether or not a light bulb was working in a plane crash......so ya, they can tell if the truck was on fire prior to the crash, charred or not.
Please explain how a truck could create a dust cloud in front of it when traveling through gravel? I drive gravel road weekly and I can guarantee anyone in front of me can see the truck coming. To say that there would be so much dust in the air that you couldn't see the truck would also mean the driver would be blinded by the dust.
You would be driving thru gravel in a controlled manner. In an accident case, the truck has lost all control and it will create a small or large dust cloud in front as it pushes the dirt out of the median. Whether or not it was on fire, could be, like this accident were a tractor crosses the median and upon landing it bursts into a ball of flame. VOLUME WARNING! Bad words.
"Eye witnesses" are notoriously unreliable in accurately recalling events, especially events that unfold quickly, and take the witness by surprise. There was a talk show that staged a purse snatch at the beginning of the episode, witnessed by the entire audience. The audience thought it was real, and gave so many conflicting statements about the crime and description of the "suspect" that it put into doubt the veracity of witness testimony.
